Antonio French

This article originally appeared in the St. Louis Beacon. - Long before most St. Louisans knew about Kwanzaa, paid close attention to gay rights, thought seriously about local control of the St. Louis Police Department or even were willing to consider putting the brakes on capital punishment, Jamala Rogers was working on these issues, mostly at the grass-roots level.

Democratic Illinois lawmakers have approved a 67% income-tax increase in a desperate bid to end the state's crippling budget crisis. Legislative leaders rushed early Wednesday morning to pass the politically risky plan before new General Assembly was sworn in at noon. The increase now goes to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. He supports the plan to temporarily raise the personal tax rate to 5% from the current 3% rate. Corporate taxes also would climb.